This invention relates to a remote controlled buoy that can be used with submerged devices such as lobster traps, oil and gas machinery, and other underwater equipment.
Buoys are well known for marking waterways and locations of submerged devices. Advances in technology have provided buoys capable of being submerged at their respective location, to be released by the use of timers or remote signal. Advantages in a buoy being submersible and remotely controlled are many. For example, a fisherman or lobsterman may desire to keep a crab pot or lobster trap hidden from poachers. Additionally, the tether of a buoy that stretches from the sea floor to the surface may get tangled in propellers, or, worse, become entwined with sea life, causing not only economic damage to the fisherman/lobsterman from the loss of capital, but potentially also harming magnificent creatures of the deep. By way of example, whales have died agonizing deaths from becoming entangled in lines tethered to surface buoys.
Arrangements for submersible, remote or timer controlled buoys are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,261,142 and 4,262,379. Both patents disclose submersible buoys attached to lobster or crab traps wherein the buoy is anchored by a pin to the trap. An actuator within the buoy releases its hold on the pin with use of a timer or optional transmission signal.
Such submersible buoys contain complex internal workings, making them cost-prohibitive to many family-run fishing enterprises. Additionally, such buoys cannot release from the pin if the buoy is inadvertently angled to a degree too high in relation to being upright, as in the condition of a lobster trap tumbling down an underwater ravine or cliff and/or landing at an odd angle. Furthermore, the buoy and trap are potentially lost forever if the complex inner workings fail for any reason, as such buoys do not possess an absolute fail-safe design. Additionally, submersible buoys that contain the tether internal to the buoy makes the buoy too large for commercial fishing operations that operate beyond the depth of a few fathoms. Moreover, the inseparability of the buoyant portion from the actuation/release mechanisms of such submersible buoys means that, upon failure, the entire buoy must be sent back to the factory for repair, unless, of course, the buoy and its respective submerged device, e.g. lobster trap, remain forever at the bottom of the ocean either because the release pin is at a wrong angle or because the system has otherwise failed.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a remotely activated buoy which overcomes all of the disadvantages described above and other disadvantages of the prior art.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a buoy including a buoyant reel and an actuator. The buoyant reel includes connectivity for connecting the buoyant reel to the actuator. The actuator includes a releasing mechanism for releasing the buoyant reel from the actuator.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a buoy including a buoyant reel and an actuator, and including a fail-safe water-soluble corrosion link in the connectivity between the buoyant reel and the actuator, where, upon corroding over time, the energy-to-yield of the corrosion link becomes less than the buoyant energy of the buoy, allowing the buoy to surface a body of water.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a buoy including a buoyant reel and an actuator. The buoyant reel includes connectivity means for connecting the buoyant reel to the actuator. The actuator includes releasing means for releasing the buoyant reel from the actuator.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a buoy including a buoyant reel and an actuator. The buoyant reel includes a first line for connecting the buoyant reel to the actuator. The actuator includes at least one of a solenoid, an electric motor and a hydraulic piston for releasing the first line from the actuator.